UNECOM
Founding History and Tradition The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine was founded in 1978 by the New England Osteopathic Foundation. The College that year consisted of a newly revamped Stella Maris Hall, 36 first-year students, and 12 faculty members. Today UNECOM has some of the best medical education facilities in the nation with the Harold Alfond Center for Health Sciences, nearly 500 students and more than 250 faculty members. In addition, UNECOM has been recognized for excellence in primary care, geriatric education, and osteopathic manipulative medicine. In 1972, a group of New England osteopathic physicians met informally to discuss their concern about the aging population of osteopathic physicians in the New England area and the difficulty of New England students in securing admission to osteopathic colleges. Osteopathic physicians comprised the majority of physicians available in numerous rural and urban areas. Failure to replace them would cause not only a marked loss to the profession but, more important, to the patients who had come to depend on osteopathic medical care. The group discussed ways of dealing with this problem and moved to establish an osteopathic college in New England. The New England Foundation for Osteopathic Medicine (NEFOM) was incorporated in 1973 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Since its inception, the purpose of this nonprofit tax-exempt organization was "to operate and maintain a foundation for the promotion of osteopathic medical education, osteopathic medical research, and the improvement of health care in osteopathic medical hospitals and related institutions." The mission of UNECOM is to provide for the education of osteopathic physicians and other health professionals. The college is dedicated to the improvement of life through education, research and service, emphasizing health, healing and primary care for the people of New England and the nation. Research UNECOM recognizes and supports the role of research in all of its educational, clinical and basic science activities. Research is fundamental to, consistent with, and a prerequisite for excellence in teaching and the creation of a scholarly atmosphere for learning. A few of our recent accomplishments toward fulfilling these goals include: -The creation of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences with a focus on the prevention and effective treatment of neurological disease within a multidisciplinary approach to research, education, and health-professional training. -The construction of the Pickus Center for Biomedical Research, a state-of-the-art research building that houses teams of COM faculty and student researchers. -Receiving faculty research funding from federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and Office of Naval Research, from foundations such as the American Diabetes Foundation and Maine Cancer Foundation, and state sources like the Maine Technology Institute. -Being recognized for the quality of our research in such prestigious national publications as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Nature Clinical Practice: Cardiovascular Medicine, J''ournal of Neurophysiology'', Pain and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. As we move forward, UNECOM has identified the following general areas of biomedical research to focus on: -The neurobiology of acute and chronic pain, and the development of novel therapies for its prevention and treatment. -Prevention and treatment of diseases encountered in primary care (e.g., diabetes and obesity). -Critical evaluation of manipulative medicine techniques that assess efficacy and outcomes. Visit UNECOM today! http://www.une.edu/com 11 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, ME 04005 Category:Current Research